


A Promise

by notjustmom



Series: Random Strangeness [3]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash, after Tony returns, post snap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-14 12:04:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18475858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notjustmom/pseuds/notjustmom
Summary: Rhodey meets Stephen





	1. Chapter 1

It had been a rough few weeks, Rhodey considered as he sat next to Tony's bed. Hell, if he were completely honest with himself, it had been a rough decade, and it wasn't going to get easier anytime soon. Even as he relaxed slightly into the uncomfortable chair, he knew he should be doing something besides sitting there, but he didn't want Tony to wake up alone, after everything he had been through. He didn't even know what he had been through, not really, he had heard Nebula's straightforward report of what had transpired on Titan, but he wasn't ready to contemplate what it all meant yet.

"Damn."

Rhodey looked up to see an oddly dressed man slowly materialize in front of him, and he was only slightly surprised at how little it fazed him. He waited until the man or whatever it was finished shimmering before he asked him, "can I help you?"

"Where am I?"

"Tony Stark's hospital room."

Stephen more or less floated closer to the bed and studied Tony's face, then looked up at Rhodes and asked quietly, "when did he get back?"

He had to close his eyes and think for a moment. "Three days ago. You are -"

"Dr. Stephen Strange."

"You were on Titan."

Stephen nodded, then whispered, "I was. You're James Rhodes."

"I am."

"Spinal cord injury. 2016."

"Right."

"I couldn't have done anything, even if -" he looked at his trembling hands, and shook his head. 

"I know."

"What's his prognosis?"

"Should be waking up. He's not."

"They've done scans?"

"Not yet. He gets claustrophobic in those things, and I don't want him waking up that way."

"Where's Pepper?"

"Pepper. You know about Pepper?"

"I met her, sort of. They were at the park before, she's not -"

"She's fine. She's working. Someone has to work even when half the world is ash. Wait. Nebula said -"

Stephen finally eased himself down in the chair, took Tony's hand in his, and felt for his pulse, then held on tightly. "You've known him a long time."

"Since MIT."

"He's -"

"A stubborn pain in the ass?" 

"Remarkable."

"Yeah, he is." Rhodey nodded.

"And a stubborn pain in the ass."

Rhodey couldn't help but laugh, and realized he couldn't remember the last time he had laughed out loud. "Sorry. I just - haven't had much to laugh about lately." He watched Strange's face change as he looked at Tony, then closed his eyes.

"He'll wake up soon. He just needs to rest a little while longer. When he wakes up, tell him - will you tell him, just tell him I was here, and I'll be back when I can find Peter. Tell him I'm going to bring Peter home."

Rhodey met the golden green eyes and nodded. "I will. Anything else I should tell him?"

Strange shook his head. "I'll tell him when I get back. I need to go now. You will -"

"I'll keep an eye on him, Strange." He watched as a ring of light seemed to leap from his fingers and he was gone.

 

"Rhodey?" Tony whispered.

"Hey, there, welcome back, Buttercup."

"That bad, hmm?"

"Nah, you look great, for someone lost in space for a few weeks."

"I heard Doc's voice, was he here?"

Rhodey took the hand that reached out for him and held on to it. "Yeah, the wizard was here - "

"He doesn't like being called that."

"Sorry. He was here, I think he wanted to be sure you were okay. He said he was going to find Peter, and bring him home."

Tony drew in a pained breath, but nodded, then whispered hesitantly, "Pepper?"

"She's fine. She's holding down the fort as always." Rhodey had to look away from Tony's gaze, knowing he would see it in his eyes.

"Sour Patch?"

"Give yourself time to heal, things will work out as they are meant to."

Tony raised an eyebrow at him, but said nothing for a moment before he growled out, "what does a man have to do to get a cheeseburger around here?"

Rhodey laughed and squeezed his hand, "yeah, I'll be right back. It's good to see you, Buttercup."

 

"Strange?" Tony whispered into the darkness.

"Stark."

"You'll bring him home."

"Yes, I'll bring them all home, I promise."

"Don't do anything stupid."

"I'll do my best not to."

Tony heard a smile in the sorcerer's voice and snorted. "Hurry back."

"I will. You know -"

"Yeah, I know, Strange. I know."


	2. Chapter 2

Peter's eyes flew open and he tried to remember where he was; the last thing he remembered was - oh heck. They were on Titan, and Mr. Stark was trying to hold him together as he was flying apart. There was a tiny light coming from somewhere, a phone?

"Hello?"

A familiar voice rumbled out, "hey kiddo, just breathe. You are safe."

"Mr. Stark?" He reached out into the dark room and let out a sigh of relief as strong fingers wrapped around his wrist and felt for his pulse.

"Yeah, Pete, though I think maybe you could call me Tony, you've saved me a couple of times, now. I think Mr. Stark is a bit too formal, don't you?"

"But, I - we - how?"

"Strange went back into the stone, got you out, did some of his hocus pocus, reversed everything somehow."

"Where am I?"

"In the Avengers compound. Remember, I made you an Avenger on the ship? This is one of the perks. Strange thought you might appreciate a comfortable bed, and the hospital staff might notice you're not quite a typical teenager. How are you feeling?"

Peter took another breath and slowly sat up, and as his eyes adjusted to the darkness he found Tony looking at him. He looked older, thinner, but it was him, he was sitting there next to him, still holding his wrist in his hand. "Everybody else?"

"Everyone's back, kiddo. You are the last to wake up. I called your Aunt May, I let her know that you are okay, that you were doing some super secret intern work for me."

"Wait a minute. What day is it?"

"Night of your field trip."

"But -" Peter shook his head. "That's not -"

"Strange went back in time, everything that happened, didn't."

"But I remember -"

"Yeah, I know. No one else will. Another perk of being who we are. Vision can delete the memories for you, would be a good idea, no one needs that wandering around in their brain. I would have had him do it before you woke up, but I thought you should have the choice."

Peter threw his legs over the side of the bed then straightened up slowly and asked him quietly, "are you going to? Delete everything?"

Tony shook his head. "It's different for me, I wasn't, I didn't - and even if I could, I need the occasional reminder that I'm fallible. That I can't always escape everything on my own."

"What happened, to you, after? You and Nebula? I didn't want to go, I tried so hard, not to go. I promise -"

"I know, Pete. Took some time for us to get home."

"How long?"

"Pete -"

"Tony. I'm not a kid, okay, I am, but, I was there, I saw - I saw what I saw -"

"I was gone for a year."

Peter's face stopped working, and Tony knew he was trying not to let him see what he was feeling. It was too soon, he should have just had Vision take the memories, and they could have avoided this conversation. "A whole year? Mr. - Tony, I'm so sorry."

Where was Strange? He wasn't equipped for this, this kid who could see way too much. "What are you sorry for? I'm the one who should have made sure you got home, you shouldn't have been there."

"I chose to be there, remember? I can't, couldn't do nothing, when I knew you needed help, I didn't have a choice really."

"What do you mean, knew it?"

"It was, like I felt the donut ship was there before I saw it, and I just knew, it was instinct, I dunno, like the Batman signal?"

"A disturbance in the force?" Tony managed to grin at him, when Peter snorted, and ran his fingers through his hair, as if still trying to convince himself he was really there in one piece.

"Yeah, that would make you Han Solo, then?"

"And you Luke Skywalker?"

Peter looked down at his hands for a moment, then shook his head. "There should be someone who remembers what happened, what you did, you shouldn't have to carry it all by yourself."

"He won't, Peter." The deep voice arrived before the rest of him did. Tony and Peter blinked at the bright light as Stephen stepped through the portal.

"Hey, Doctor Strange."

"Peter." He looked at the young face and nodded. "Tony."

"Doc."

"Can I borrow Tony for a minute, Peter?"

Peter yawned and nodded, "I need a nap anyway. You'll be back?"

"Yeah, Pete, I'll be right back."

 

"Doc? What -"

Stephen laid his hands on Tony's face, then looked into his eyes. "I know things are back to normal, for the most part, getting back to normal for everyone else, but you. I can make it so we never met, you can go back, to the day in the park, when you were with Pepper, your timeline will be changed, I was able to look forward enough, you could be happy. You will be happier if you never knew I existed."

"By that reasoning, you could erase the last ten years for me, make it so I never got captured in Afghanistan, so I never became Iron Man, so I never fell in love with Pepper, never met the kid in that room, who is willing to live with the memory of turning to ash, so I won't be the only one who remembers, right? You of all people know what happens when you mess with time too much, we still don't know if this will work, there will be other aliens, and human beings won't stop being human beings just because they got a second chance, especially when no one is aware of the fact that they have one.

You saved me once already, Doc, when you gave up the Time Stone, I don't want to ever forget that. I don't believe you were fated to save me. You made a choice, something in here," he pushed aside the glowing amulet and placed his hand over Stephen's heart. "Something in here made you choose the life of a man, a deeply flawed and damaged man, over the universe, because you had an idea I could make it home to fix it, or maybe there was another reason. It's fixed as much as it can be, Doc. You know what would happen, better than I do, if you created a parallel universe inside this timeline. You are willing to put my happiness above everything else, including time itself, and I won't have it. It's my choice, this time. I choose you, Stephen. I had chance after chance with Pepper. We didn't work out, I don't know why. Maybe, just maybe, I was meant to love someone else."

"Tony."

"So many times in the last few years, I didn't have a choice, things happened to me, and I could only react to them. Most of the time, it was enough just to survive. This time, I get to choose." He laid his head against Stephen's chest and felt like he finally took his first real breath since the day he came home when Stephen's arms slowly wrapped around him and held him tightly.

"You know..."

"Yeah, Doc, we'll be a piping hot mess on the best of days."

"But you -"

"Yeah, Doc, I knew from the first time you winked at me, I knew, and I love you, too."

 

"Mr. Stark?"

"Hey kiddo."

Peter sat up, then looked around and found he was back in his room in Queens. "What are you doing here?"

"Just seeing how things are going."

He blinked up at him and shook his head. "I remember..."

Tony swore under his breath and shook his head. "Vision was worried that he didn't get it all, your brain is more complicated than most, maybe from your powers, or maybe it's just the fact that you're a teenager? What exactly do you remember?"

"I was on my way to a field trip..." He shrugged and looked away, then turned back to look at him, and asked quietly, "why are you really here?"

"I wanted to let you know I'm sort of retiring; I'll be around, just at the Sanctum, so if you ever need help with your homework, or need some back up -"

"You'll be the first one I call," Peter whispered and smiled at him. 

"Promise?"

"I promise, Tony." He bit his lip, then wrapped his arms around him and leaned into his shoulder. "I promise I'll never forget."


End file.
